Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole

My husband is diabetic, as are a few of his other close relatives. Sweet potatoes are indeed a holiday staple, but unfortunately most of the time they are made with yummy gooey, crunchy marshmallows, and lots of sweet yummy brown sugar..(I swear I just gained 20 pounds thinking about that) The traditional way is one of my favorite ways to eat it, but when I ran across this recipe, I thought, you know that doesn't sound too bad, its not a cavity inducing recipe, and it wont raise the blood sugar to the point that the diabetics have to take an entire syringe full of insulin. I tested this out on my husbands family, because hey, somebody had to be the guinea pig...(ha ha ha) (If you guys are reading this, love you all)

What you will need:
Nonstick cooking spray
1 large sweet potato (about 10 oz.), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons of butter melted, and divided
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 cup chopped pecans crushed.

What you do:
1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees., and spray your casserole dish with non stick cooking spray.
then add water to a large sauce pot until its mostly full, but not all the way, and then add the sweet potato to the pot and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Cook the potato for 20 min, then add the carrots to the pot and cook for 15 to 20 minutes longer.  Once the vegetables are tender, drain, keeping 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and add that and the veggies to a bowl.

2. With a hand mixer, mash the potato and the carrots and water together until its mostly smooth, then add 2 tbsp of the butter, and all of the seasonings, keep mixing until everything is mixed well.
Then dump it all and spread into your your casserole dish. Top with the pecans and the rest of the butter.

3. Bake the casserole covered for 15 minutes, and then bake it uncovered for 10 minutes longer until the top is lightly browned.

It sounds like more work than what it really is. My husband who generally dislikes sweet potatoes, admitted to me that he actually liked this and would eat it again!!! Now, I know he's not just saying that to be nice, because he's one of those people who has no tact, and if he doesn't like something, he's going to say so, and if he thinks a recipe is missing something, he will be the first to tell me. (That's how I got the pie crust recipe right) He actually told me he wouldn't mind it if I made this for Christmas dinner!!!

So enjoy!!! (oh, and for you diabetics, this is only 10 grams of carbs)